Miller Theatre
708 Broad Street,
Augusta,
GA
30901
708 Broad Street,
Augusta,
GA
30901
11 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 222 comments
Free movies are shown here approximately once a month with concessions available for purchase. The best that I could tell, the movies are played from a Blu-ray (or similar high definition home video source) through a commercial projection system. The screen is fairly large and nice though. It is pleasant to be in such a large and historic auditorium.
Complimentary tickets to open house on January 7th will be available soon on the new website. Enjoyed talking to so many people about the Miller during Arts in the Heart! www.MillerTheaterAugusta.com Angela Maskey, Miller volunteer
News story with video of the marquee.
http://www.wrdw.com/content/news/The-Miller-Theater-Marquee-lights-up-again-for-the-first-time-in-more-than-30-years-444793123.html?abc=GamDA3iN
THE MILLER THEATRE reopened tonight for the local arts,Needs to be added as an open theatre on here, thanks.Sept 15 2017.
no kidding, THE MILLER and IMPERIAL were A theatres at one time…
I’m hoping that this newest incarnation of the Miller will preserve all of the architectural elements that make it distinctive, and an asset to the community. Now if only the movies of today were as good as those I watched there back in the ‘40s and '50s….
should reopen as a center for the local arts in 2017..
Better version of the August 1964 photo added via Bob Russell. Originally posted in a comment in 2010 from a magazine or newspaper.
May 12, 2016 article in the Augusta Chronicle reports a $50,000 grant for restoration purposes. http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2016-05-12/miller-theater-project-receives-50000-grant#
Looks like nothing going on at present,from outside,ATLEAST. What an opportunity for an enlightened group to front an arts district in that few blocks,with two fine theaters,great old buildings to rehab and repurpose. There are has some amazingly fabulous eateries,museums and other historical/cultural resources . I had never examined this city before this week and I was stunned at what potential this city possesses .
If you want to see the Miller Theatre saved, turn the direction and resurrection over to Mike Deas of Augusta Amusements. It won’t happen successfully any other way.
Did the Miller make it? I heard it was being looked at as a possible home for the symphony without much excitement. Could it possibly be saved, what a tragedy if were not. Might it become a performing arts venue much like the Imperial. Augusta do the right thing and save this treasure.
a better street view of the miller theatre https://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.474633,-81.963846&ll=33.47462,-81.963964&spn=0.00043,0.000603&num=1&t=h&gl=us&z=21
Thanks for the post guys,Miller is moving along….
Thank you Mr. Schmidt. Well said…maybe Bob Hope can make it back to announce for them.
The perfect solution for the Augusta Symphony! ;–)
Bravo Mr. Schmidt. You are right on the money. The whole 8' extension thing IS NOT the footage that they taped on the floor in front of the Miller stage, which was more like 24' from the front of the orchestra pit apron into the room. And the fact that you have played in Carnegie Hall and other halls qualifies you to know more than some of the Augusta Symphony consultants. This only goes to prove that if you pay someone from out of town, they can tell you what you want to hear…but, you (the consumer) are stuck with the end product, which to me, will be disastrous acoustically and architecturally. Several architect and engineer friends of mine who have toured the Miller, DO NOT agree with where the symphony wants to go with this. But they will make their bed and have to deal with it. Unfortunately, an architectural treasure will be lost.
Here’s the full citation for the Chronicle article:http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2012-06-22/historic-miller-theater-renovation-moves-forward Lots of pros and cons to the proposed project: see readers' comments. I’d love to see the Miller restored as I remember it fondly from the 1940s-50s, but today it probably wouldn’t fly as a movie house only, for lots of reasons. As a retired symphony musician who has played in many halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York, I question the suitability of the Miller as a symphony orchestra venue. Eight more feet of stage (thrust, presumably, not backstage) will still not be sufficient to accommodate a typical 85-90 piece orchestra, and the acoustics will be all wrong. Meanwhile, some attractive features of the house will be forever altered or removed. In an ideal world, the Miller would be restored (not repurposed) to its original purposes (movies and live stage presentations) and design. It is an Art Moderne gem that very few cities have. But we don’t live in an ideal world, alas.
Sad day for the Miller for the symphony to get the project. Mike Deas and Friends of the Miller would have restored the theatre to what people remembered it for. It will be forever lost now to what Frank Miller envisioned.
Henry, Yes, now I remember the name of that drugstore. There were also Lane/Ligett and Walgreen chain drug stores at Eighth and Broad and Ninth and Broad plus others at Fifth, Tenth and Thirteenth and Broad. Lots of soda fountains for a stop before or after the movie!
Right you are. I wasn’t thinking of the national chain stores, like Sears and Penney’s, but rather the local/regional stores. The elevated system you mention was a vacuum tube system, common in the days when transactions were handled not by clerks at cash registers in each department, but in a central, unseen location somewhere in the back offices of the store. Your cash went into the cartridge, which was inserted into the tube, and it whisked away to the nether regions; in a minute or two, your receipt and change were returned in the same tube.
The drugstore at the corner of 7th and Broad was Gardell’s Drug Store, part of the Rexall chain. Gardell’s later moved out near the University Hospital. Gardell’s had little hexagonal tile floors, ceiling fans, wire frame chairs, and the best fountain Cokes in town. It had a full range of cosmetics, etc. And it even sold medicine!
Cullums was the upscale department next to the Miller. There were also a Pennys, Sears and Belks department store downtown. One had the elevated system with the little carriers that flew through the store with purchase slips, change and receipts back and forth similar to an outside bank teller today. On the other side of the Miller was a restaurant, the Ship Ahoy I think, later a pool room and a drugstore on the corner of 7th Street with a beautiful marble top soda fountain. Those fountain cokes with pure cane sugar and coke flavor were delicious and blow away completely any Coca Cola of today.
That would have been Cullum’s Dept. Store, IIRC. I have a matchbook cover with a picture of the store. It was one of three department stores on Broad St. that I remember: J.B. White, Davison-Paxon(sp?), and Cullum’s. But my favorite store in downtown Augusta was Bowen Bros. Hardware.
Saturday June 23 2012,www.augustachroncile.com Front page article below the fold on MILLER THEATRE update.Plans are now under way to buy the old department store next door to expand the Miller.
I clearly remember seeing The African Queen during its' original run at the Miller. Oh, those leeches!